Sunday, May 1, 2011

.........And the End to a Most Disappointing April.






While April has brought a number of warblers to our nets, including the Blue-winged Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow-throated Warbler and Northern Parula pictured above, the number of individuals netted in April has been profoundly disappointing. Only the 29th of April brought more than twenty new birds. A majority of days has brought fewer than seven birds to the station nets. Each neotropical migrant which has visited the station over the past six seasons in annual numbers greater than ten is well below that threshold. Kinglet, gnatcatcher and Hermit Thrush numbers, too, are at all-time lows and unlikely to improve in May. Today brought us only four new birds; not a good start to the final month of the season.

Another New Species........




April 29th, the day following deadly tornadoes across the Deep South and strong storms in eastern North Carolina and Virginia Beach, brought a Kentucky Warbler to the station for the first time. The bird was extracted by eleven-year old Mary Michael Lipford with great skill and without assistance. The warbler was a handsome after-second-year male.